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07_28_25_AM_headlines Ainsley Coogan
Colorado Legislature special session
State lawmakers are expected to meet in a special session next month to review the impact of the new federal budget bill, and see how it will impact health issues in Colorado.
The special session will take place during the week of August 18, according to Colorado Politics. Lawmakers began their review this past Friday, although that meeting wasn’t announced publicly.
More details about the August special session are expected this week, when the executive committee of the legislative council meets with state economists to go over the new federal budget numbers.
The new federal budget slashes Medicaid funding by $900 billion over 10 years. It also reduces access to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP. Individual states will be responsible for most of those costs.
Education funds unfrozen
The Trump administration is expected to release about $67 million in previously frozen funding for K-12 school districts in Colorado. The funding had been frozen for nearly a month.
The funding had already been approved by Congress, and was required to be released to the states on July 1, when the administration abruptly imposed the freeze. In response, school districts were preparing to cut jobs and programs.
Last week, some of the funds had been released, but not all. That decision came after a group of 10 Republican senators advocated for the release of funding, as well as after Colorado and many other states sued the Trump administration. That’s according to the Denver Post.
On Friday, the Education Department said that the Office of Management and Budget had completed its review of the programs that the funding would go to and would begin sending withheld funds back to the states.
The Office of Management and Budget said that some of the programs supported a “radical left-wing agenda.”
The funding in review included $2 billion for teacher development and reducing class sizes; $1.3 billion for afterschool programs; $1 billion for academic enrichment grants; $890 million for students learning English; $376 million to educate children of migrant workers; and $715 million for teaching adults how to read.
West Nile virus death
Colorado has recorded its first death this year from the West Nile virus.
The Denver Post is reporting that a Lafayette adult died from the virus, although the name of the person, and their date of death, has not been made public.
A joint press release from state and Boulder County health officials confirmed the fatality and said it underscores just how serious the West Nile virus is. They stressed the importance of taking precautions, like using insect repellent and draining standing water, to help keep mosquitoes away.
Mosquitoes are the primary way that the West Nile virus spreads. The insects have tested positive for West Nile virus in eight Colorado counties, including Boulder, Denver and Broomfield.
State health officials have confirmed nine cases of West Nile virus in humans this summer. They’re in eight different counties, including Boulder and Broomfield.
Colorado recorded no West Nile virus deaths last year, but 51 people died from it in the state the year before.
Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park partly reopening
The North Rim of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park is due to reopen this Thursday.
The entire park has been closed since a wildfire began on the South Rim earlier this month. That fire is still burning, and the South Rim remains closed, but the fire is 32% contained, according to the Denver Post.
Once the North Rim reopens on Thursday, visitors will be able to access trails and overlooks, and use its campground.
In the meantime two new wildfires are burning. The Elkhorn fire, near Durango, has led to mandatory evacuations in three zones. It’s burned about 145 acres and is at zero percent containment.
The Rim Road fire, also near Durango, had burned about 50 acres and forced evacuations. There is no word on its containment.
